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Sunday, October 30, 2016

If you have ever been inclined to visit Albuquerque this would be a good time, particularly if you are interested in Twentieth Century American Art and Art History. I say this because I just visited the current exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum of Art, Mabel Dodge Luhan & Company: American Moderns and the West. This is a gigantic show with over 150 pieces related to Mabel Dodge Luhan and her artist friends who gravitated toward Taos, New Mexico in the first half of the last century.

The exhibit started off at the Harwood Gallery in Taos; it will be in Albuquerque until January 22nd and will then go to Buffalo on March 10th.

As luck would have it I came across a copy of Mabel's biography at my local used bookstore and am about half way through it at the moment. The author, Lois Rudnick, is one of the curators of the exhibit.

While the show has virtually something for everyone given Mable's vast circle of friends, what interested me of course was the photography. There are fine examples in the show of work by Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and many others. A portrait of Tony Lujan, Mabel's last husband, has made me rethink my ideas about Adams who has worn a bit thin for me, particularly his later portraits. The Lujan picture is very strong and clearly shows the influence of Strand who mentored Adams in Taos.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

I was sent a Pentax K1000 to evaluate for use by a photographer new to film photography. The camera had a working shutter and a lens that could be cleaned up, but the the meter and the frame counter were inoperative. It could make pictures, but seemed a poor choice to start with. So, I sent off my own K1000 kit to the new user and kept the slightly lame camera.

The meter on the old camera looked like a lost cause, but I was able to clean up the lens. The frame counter also proved to be an easy fix. I shot a test roll of Fuji 200.

This Pentax does not have as sharp a focus screen as I remember in my other one. The rubber cover on the focus ring is a bit loose. Two frames in my test roll showed a severe light leak. So, there is still some work that could be done on the camera. I'm not sure I'll get around to that, but at least I got some pictures that will keep the camera from going in the blue recycle bin out back.

About Me

I spend much of my time making photographs, usually with old film cameras. A move to Albuquerque at the beginning of 2008 has given my photo work more of an urban character.
Contact: mike dot connealy at gmail dot com.